


Recapitulation

by AnnaOnTheMoon



Series: Based on the Books [8]
Category: Star Trek - Various Authors, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: The Next Generation Books
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Fix-it fic, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Jack Crusher (Death), Mirror Univese, Multiple Universes, Q Continuum, based on the books, book canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-10-01 11:02:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17243084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnnaOnTheMoon/pseuds/AnnaOnTheMoon
Summary: Inspired by a re-reading of Q-Squared by Peter David.  We return to Track A in the book to find Acting Captain Picard mourning the death of his lover, Beverly Howard, at the hands of her ex-husband, Jack Crusher.Q intervenes to repair Trelane's misdoings.NOTE: You do *not* need to have read Q-Squared as everything you need to know is explained in the story.





	Recapitulation

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Insomnia](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16867696) by [Wortspiel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wortspiel/pseuds/Wortspiel). 



> This was also inspired by Insomnia by Wortspiel because I re-read the novel Q-Squared before reading their fic and I couldn't not give Wortspiel proper credit for planting the seed as it had been several years since I read Q-Squared!

Acting Captain Picard woke up in a sweat, as he did most nights recently.  He reached out for a body that wasn’t in bed with him and never would be again and sighed.  He swung his legs over the side of his bed and walked to his bathroom to splash some cold water on his face.  He looked at his gaunt face and frowned at the new lines he didn’t realise were forming on his forehead.  He pulled on his uniform, now hanging loose on his frame and headed for the morgue. 

He dismissed the staff working the nightshift in the morgue and pulled a stool next to drawer 14.  He pressed the button to release the slab and gazed down at the red-headed woman.  He reached for her cold hand and brought it to his lips, kissing her fingers gently.  “Hello, my love.  I can’t sleep again.  I....I miss you.”  He broke down.  His shoulders wracked with sobs as he gently traced the lines of her face.  Her eyes were closed, but he knew what her beautiful blue eyes looked like.  He leaned over and pressed a kiss to her lips.  “I love you.” 

He hadn’t seen her die.  He hadn’t seen his former best friend push  his ex-wife against the table cracking her skull before he told his counterpart from another universe that he could never have her and turned the phaser on himself.  He felt wracked with guilt over Beverly’s death.  Perhaps if they had never become involved, Jack wouldn’t have...but it was useless to think about that.  He had still had twelve years, more or less, with the woman he loved, more than some people get.  He wondered how his counterpart in the other universe was doing dealing with having witnessed Beverly’s death.  He wondered if he held his own Beverly close at night and whispered to her how much he loved her as much as he wished he could be whispering it to his Beverly.  (His counterpart wasn’t handling it well.  He would wake up in cold sweats and instead of reaching for Beverly, he would get up and drink.  He refused to talk about what he had seen.)

Drawer number 12 held Jack Crusher.  Jean-Luc hadn’t opened the drawer once in the two weeks since the strange incident that had connected their universe to other, multiple universes where everyone had a duplicate, or at least, most of everyone.  Jean-Luc had found out that their Jack had been the only Jack...and in every universe he and Beverly were either together or dancing around their relationship.  Jean-Luc smiled at the thought and was somehow comforted that in other universes he and Beverly Howard, sometimes Crusher, and even more often Picard, were together. 

“I wish you were here.”  He still held her cold hand in his and he reached his other hand up to brush some of her beautiful tresses from her face.  “They reinstated me as a full Captain,”  he chuckled.  “I should be happy about that but all I can think of is how you’re not by my side.

“We’re returning to Earth.  I spoke with your grandmother and she agreed to allow me to bury you in La Barre....in the Picard family plot.  I wanted...I wanted to be able to visit you.”  Jean-Luc began to cry again.  “I read your....I read the result of the scan they did after you were dead.  Oh, Beverly.  Did you know?

“They were able to....they were able to remove it.  _It_.  But I don’t know what else to call it.  Can I call it our baby yet?   They’re trying to use an artificial womb for her....but it doesn’t look good.  And I don’t know if I can face the possibility of losing you all over again.  I’ve given our baby a name.  Her name is Yvette Beverly Howard Picard.  And if she survives, I promise I will spend every day of her life telling her about her mother.

“I hope she has your hair.  Your hair was always so beautiful.  I didn’t like when you cut it, to be honest.  I understood why you needed the change, but I always liked it when it was longer.  It felt like spun silk in my fingers.” He ran his fingers through her hair lovingly as his tears fell.  “I had a ring for you.  I wanted to ask you to marry me, but I was afraid to ask you because we hadn’t told Jack about our relationship...but I wanted to make you my wife.  I wanted to be your Mister Howard to my Mrs Picard,”  he smiled sadly as he remembered the jokes.  They had spoken about marriage once or twice, but Beverly had wanted to tell Jack about their relationship first, and naturally, had been worried for his reaction.

Neither of them could have predicted that when Jack found out, he would have snapped and decided to not only kill himself, but Beverly as well. 

Jean-Luc sighed and glanced at the clock on the wall.  “I’m sorry, my love. My shift is starting soon and I need to leave you again.  I’ll be back after my shift and after I check on the baby’s progress.  I love you. I love you more than you will ever know.”  Jean-Luc leaned down and pressed a kiss to her chilled lips once more before he pressed the button that would take her back to her frozen temporary grave. 

He rose, straightened his uniform, dried his eyes, and left the morgue, nodding to the medical staff waiting to start the day shift. 

The omnipotent being known as Q watched floating near the ceiling.  He had managed to right nearly all of his protégé’s wrongs, except for the ones in this universe.  For this was the universe Trelane had done the most damage.  Q was in a conundrum.  In the other universes it was simply a matter of snapping his fingers and everything went back to normal – well, almost everything because he hadn’t been able to erase his favourite Picard’s memories of holding a dying Beverly Howard.  He wasn’t entirely sure how to.

And that’s where the conundrum part came in.  Snapping his fingers in this universe _would_ bring the good doctor back to life, put her baby back inside her, and this Picard would be happy and propose marriage...but if he did that, Picard would remain demoted down to Commander, and that insipid Jack Crusher would be alive once more and would be Captain of the vessel.  How they had managed to overlook this one Jack Crusher in all the universes to let him somehow live beyond 2355 was beyond him.  That man was fated to die. 

Jack Crusher was a thorn in the continuum’s side.  When he showed up, he nosed his way in between Picard and Beverly, destroying the one great love that was supposed to be between the two and span across the myriad.  In most universes, the continuum had to sit back and watch as Crusher honed in on Beverly and they could only manipulate things to get rid of Crusher – usually in death a few years into his marriage with Beverly.  In a few universes, they had managed to somehow keep Crusher from getting involved with Beverly, but in most of them, Beverly had had a son with Crusher – the son that should have belonged to Picard.  But this universe....well, Q wasn’t exactly sure how or when it had gotten away from them. 

Crusher had lived, but the child had died.  That was _never_ supposed to happen.  But fortunately, Picard had jumped in before the child’s death and had an affair with Beverly and their affair had continued after the child’s death, much to the relief of the continuum. The destruction of the _Stargazer_ had always been fated, but in every universe except this one, Picard wound up on top.  But this one...

Q sighed.  He didn’t want to bring back Crusher, but he had to do something.  Plus there was the new life Picard and Beverly had created.  It was lying in an artificial womb instead of inside its mother and Q knew the child would face many developmental struggles as a result, developmental struggles that the continuum wouldn’t be able to intervene with.  Picard would later be faced with a choice – his career or his child – and the results no matter how they ran the scenarios always wound up with Picard stressed out and dying far too early, despite their intervention with his heart when he was stabbed as a youth.  An artificial heart was only as good as the body it was pumping for, and raising little Yvette Picard on his own would push him over the edge. 

Yvette would be taken in by her aunt and uncle in La Barre, but she too, would meet an early end dying in a fire alongside her uncle and cousin, and in one fail swoop – it would mark the complete demise of the Picard family. Marie would remarry and have children with her new husband, but there would not be a single person named Picard left in the universe.

He also had to consider the other changes that had recently happened in this universe as a result of Trelane’s meddling  -  Will Riker had returned and had now become the second officer on the ship. Worf, the bafoon, had returned to his Klingon homeworld with a plan to become the first Klingon to serve in Starfleet.  Tasha Yar was dead – again.  And Data....Data had disappeared and was now somewhere in another universe.

Q snapped his fingers and brought Data back.  He placed Data on the bridge at his usual location in ops. _That_ was easy.  The humanoid android would remember most of what had happened due to his posetronic brain, but that would be alright. 

Q decided to wait until that night to fix more of Trelane’s carnage.

###

Q lurked above Picard while he slept.  He had observed the man visiting his beloved in the morgue again after his shift, and he hadn’t left until his head was drooping from exhaustion.  Q watched as Picard bade Beverly goodnight, and saw the tears that had dried on his cheeks.  Fortunately, no one saw the Captain on his walk back to his quarters and after a shower, which Q most definitely did _not_ watch, Picard had gone to bed, falling into a fitful sleep.

Picard was tossing and turning and murmuring in his sleep.  “Beverly....No...Jack stop. Please!” and Q knew this was his cue.  He snapped his fingers and Beverly was once again alive and in bed with Jean-Luc, and wearing a rather fetching nightgown if Q did say so himself.  Another snap and the foetus was implanted once more in Beverly’s womb.  Q made the little girl move to send some flutters to wake up her mother.  Beverly stirred and placed a hand on her abdomen with a smile.  She couldn’t wait to tell Jean-Luc.  She suddenly sat up in bed, waking Jean-Luc from his nightmare. 

“Beverly!”  He called out and she turned towards him. “I’m here.  Sorry.  Go back to sleep. Only...I’m not sure _how_ I got here and I feel as though something has happened...”

“You....you’re alive?”  Jean-Luc stared astonishingly at his lover and reached a hand out to tentatively run down her arm.  “Uhm...yes?”  Beverly shot her bedfellow a curious look. “Why wouldn’t I be?” 

“And...and the baby?  Is the baby....is she alright?”  Beverly was puzzled. “How did you know? And....it’s a girl? Jean-Luc, I’m so confused!”  Jean-Luc captured her lips in a slow kiss and rested his hand on her abdomen, where he, too, felt the tiny flutters of their child.  “It’s alright, my love.  Everything is going to be alright.  It must have been a dream. We’ll talk in the morning.  I love you.” 

“I love you, too.” Beverly paused.  “I guess we’ll have to tell Jack about our relationship now.  No way of hiding _this_ much longer,”  Beverly said as she rested her hand on top of his on her abdomen.  Jean-Luc grinned and pressed a kiss to her lips.  “Wait here.” 

Jean-Luc padded over to the dresser and reached for the box he knew contained her ring.  He got back into bed with her and presented it to her. “I’ve had this for a while and I was waiting for the right time to ask you...and I think this is the right time.  Beverly Howard, will you marry me?”  Beverly nodded and grinned and he placed the ring on her finger.  Q watched from the corner, invisible to the occupants.  At least the continuum would be happy.  Q wrinkled his nose and turned away when he watched Picard take off the silk nightgown he had made Beverly appear in.  _Human females are gross._

###

Beverly was making slow circles on Jean-Luc’s chest with her fingers making him smile and squeeze her around her shoulders.  “So...your dream?”

“It was...it was awful.  Jack,” he swallowed.  “Jack committed a murder suicide....your murder, his suicide.  He had found out about us somehow and it had sent him over the edge.  You died in my arms,” he said, careful not to mention that it had been another him because he honestly wasn’t sure himself what had happened or if it even _was_ a dream as it had felt so real to him.  Beverly gasped. “I hope that’s not prophetic.” 

“Me too.  My dream seemed to last forever. When they scanned you for an autopsy, they discovered the baby and managed to transplant her into an artificial womb.  I named her Yvette Beverly.”  Beverly softly smiled.  “I like the name Yvette.  But maybe _not_ giving her my name, too.”  Jean-Luc smiled back.  “It’s odd that I dreamed you were pregnant and you really are.”  Beverly leaned over and kissed him slowly. “Maybe you somehow knew. It’s not like I was deliberately hiding it.  I would have told you soon.” 

“Maybe.  After Jack’s death, Command made me Acting Captain and two weeks later reinstated me to full Captain.  Will Riker – you know who he is, right?”

“The man who was being held by the Romulans and wouldn’t let me examine him after he arrived?” Jean-Luc nodded. “Something flipped in him and he was suddenly himself again and as the second highest ranking senior officer, he became my Number One.”

“Hang on.  What happened to everyone else?”  Jean-Luc sighed and twined her fingers in his.  “It’s a long story....but Tasha had been killed and Data disappeared. “ 

Q frowned from his position in the corner and snapped his fingers and placed Tasha Yar in her bed, sound asleep.  He left Riker alone.  His reunion with his wife would have taken place regardless of the outcome so there was no point reverting him to  a neanderthal.

“Were we in a battle?”  Beverly’s eyes were wide.  “Sort of.  There was...a temporal rift, I guess and we wound up fighting against copies of ourselves from other universes.” 

“So I could have had two Jean-Luc’s?”  Beverly grinned. “Mmm, nice.”  Jean-Luc rolled his eyes.  “There had been only one Jack though.”

“Good. I don’t think the world needs any more of him running around, in _any_ universe.”  She sighed.  “He’s going to make life a living hell for us now that we’re engaged and having a baby.”

“I know.  Jack was so good to me, giving me a chance when no one else would...”  Beverly swung her legs over the side of the bed.  “I don’t know about you, but I need a shower and some breakfast  before we face Jack this morning.  I feel like I haven’t eaten in _weeks._ ”  Jean-Luc grinned at his fiancée and pressed a kiss to her lips. “Well, you _are_ eating for two now.” 

Q did not follow the couple into the bathroom and judging from the noises coming from it, he was glad he hadn’t.

They emerged from the shower, Beverly in a dressing gown and Jean-Luc with a towel wrapped around his waist.  Jean-Luc went over to his closet to pull out a uniform and stared at it in shock.

“Beverly...come take a look at this, would you?”

“What’s wrong with your uniform?  If it has a hole, just toss it and get a fresh one.”  Beverly shook her head but padded over to Jean-Luc with her jumpsuit hanging around her waist. “What is it?”

“ _Look.”_ Beverly looked at the uniform and gasped.  Pinned to the collar were four pips instead of three. 

“A mistake?  Maybe it’s an older uniform of yours and has your old rank on it?”  Beverly tugged her jumpsuit the rest of the way up and pulled the zipper with a grimace. “Going to need to switch to maternity wear soon.”  Jean-Luc still stared at the uniform in his hands.  “Beverly, it can’t be my old uniform.  The style changed four years ago, after I was demoted.” 

“Alright, then there was some kind of mix up.  Maybe your laundry got mixed up with Jack’s. It’s happened before. Just grab a different uniform and quit worrying about it.” 

 _“Bridge to Captain Picard.”_ Jean-Luc stared at Beverly in shock when the comms went off.  ‘Captain?’ he mouthed at her.  She shrugged. “Answer him,” she hissed.

“Uhm....Picard here.”

“ _Sir we are entering Sol Sector One.”_ Jean-Luc was puzzled why he was listening to the voice of William Riker, who should be in his quarters with his wife and son, unable to communicate beyond a few words.

“Why?”

 _“Per your oders, Sir. To bring home the bodies.  We are bringing Captain Crusher’s body back to his parents and you said you wanted to bury Doctor Howard on the Picard family plot in France.”_ Jean-Luc raised his eyebrows and exchanged a look with Beverly.  She shrugged, but was a bit relieved to not be dead.  She ought to be sad about Jack’s passing, but somehow, she wasn’t. 

“Number One....please report to my quarters immediately.  I think we need to discuss something....who is sitting at Ops?”

 _“Data, Sir.”_ Jean-Luc shook his head at Beverly.  “Bring him along too, Number One.” 

Q winked out of existence, secure that he had put the universe back together, although part of him wanted to stick around to see what crazy reasons Jean-Luc came up with to explain the past two weeks.

###FIN###


End file.
